‘Is she alive?’: Indonesian man’s hopes of finding missing wife fade after flood disaster
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Mr Abdul Ghani has been carrying around a picture of his missing wife Marsoni and showing it to everyone in the hope of finding her.
PHOTO: REUTERS
PALEMBAYAN, Indonesia – In the days since cyclone-induced floods and landslides battered Indonesia’s Sumatra island, Mr Abdul Ghani has been carrying around a picture of his missing wife, showing it to everyone he meets.
The 57-year-old Ghani, who makes a living selling soft drinks, has spent days trudging along the mud-laden roads of his town of Palembayan looking everywhere for Mrs Marsoni, his wife of 25 years.
After the couple’s only child died seven years ago, Mrs Marsoni is all that he has left.
And his hopes of finding her are fading.
He said: “Is she alive? I do not think she is.
“But I hope they find her body, even if it is just a piece of her hand.”
Mr Ghani was out working in the afternoon of Nov 28 when the rain started picking up. Before he could reach his home by the river, residents told him six houses, including his own, had been swept away.
The first person he thought of was his wife.
Mr Ghani has been carrying a large picture of her ever since, showing it to passers-by and the rescue teams working in the ruins of collapsed buildings, where voices are drowned out by the loud hum of excavators.
“I came home from work... Everywhere was like a river,” he said.
“Everything was flattened. I was broken.”
As at Dec 2, the disaster had killed 686 people in Indonesia
More than one million people were evacuated.
The devastation in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand
Holding back tears, Mr Ghani said he only wants his wife to have a proper burial.
He said: “I had a wife, we loved each other. No house, no wife. Where do I go next?” REUTERS
